


A Garden Full of Roses

by laireshi



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Flirting, Gardens, Getting Together, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-12 11:05:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17466374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laireshi/pseuds/laireshi
Summary: “Andwhat,” Rose asked in an icy voice, “isthatsupposed to mean?”As if her garden could reply, even if she thought that reply it should: the patch of ground she’d been preparing for catch crops that was supposed to be empty was now covered in rose bushes, all of them blooming.





	A Garden Full of Roses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wholeyolk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wholeyolk/gifts).



Rose crossed her arms and stared at her garden when she went to water the plants in the morning.

“And _what_ ,” she asked in an icy voice, “is _that_ supposed to mean?”

As if her garden could reply, even if she thought that reply it should: the patch of ground she’d been preparing for catch crops that was supposed to be empty was now covered in rose bushes, all of them blooming. The smell alone almost made her dizzy.

“I _hate_ roses,” she said.

It was bad enough to be _Rose the Gardener—_ thanks for the name, mum!—but her garden turning against her was even worse.

They had warned her. _Don’t_ move this close to the forest. _Don’t_ try and grow things there. It wouldn’t work anyway. But the farm had been cheap, the ground fertile, and the crops surprisingly good. She’d had no reason to complain. Every plant she’d tried so far, be it vegetables for her or fruits for sale had grown better than anywhere else. 

She’d just wanted to move away from the crowds of the capital, too dense with magic for her liking.

Of course, there was nothing that screamed magic quite like roses that she hadn’t sown blooming overnight.

Okay. Rose could deal with it. She went back inside her house to grab protective gloves and then promptly dropped them when she walked into the garden again.

The roses were gone. The patch of ground was empty, except for what looked like clover leaves growing to shape the letters, _Sorry_.

“Okay,” Rose said. “Okay. No, wait, not okay. Who are you?”

There was no answer.

Rose sighed. “You were trying to help, weren’t you. I’m not angry. But talk to me.”

“I didn’t want to annoy you,” a small voice said from behind her.

Rose spun around to see a woman around her age standing a few steps away. She had dark skin and green hair, and Rose was pretty sure her dress was made from actual leaves.

“Who are you?” she asked. Later, she’d marvel at how she wasn’t worried for her safety at all, not even in this first moment; now she was just curious.

The woman muttered something too quiet for Rose to make out.

“Speak up?”

“I’m Gaia,” she said.

Rose blinked a few times. “ _No_.”

“That’s why I didn’t say immediately.” The woman—Gaia, but _how—_ pouted. “No one’s tried to grow anything here for _years_. I wanted to help, but then . . . You take such a good care of your garden.”

Rose was pretty sure the actual goddess of earth was blushing at her now.

“Are you why all my crops turned out so well?”

Gaia shrugged one arm. “The first ones were all you,” she said. “You didn’t need my help. I just made things easier later.”

Rose liked that answer. She wouldn’t be happy if it turned out everything she’d done here was thanks to a goddess’ fancy.

“And the roses?” she asked.

“I thought humans liked them!”

“Not with my name,” Rose informed her. 

“It’s a pretty name,” Gaia said. 

Rose was almost one hundred percent she was being flirted with by a socially inept goddess.

“I’m an atheist,” she blurted out.

Gaia raised an eyebrow. “I don’t expect you to worship me. Actually, it’d make things awkward.”

“ _This_ is awkward,” Rose told her firmly. “You could’ve visited! Asked me out on a date! Making flowers bloom is kinda creepy.”

Gaia looked down. “. . . should I try for strawberries next time?”

Rose opened her mouth to deny and then reconsidered it quickly. “Raspberries,” she said. “Sweet ones.”

Gaia beamed at her. “Deal.”

Rose waited.

Gaia blinked a few times. “Ah. Uh. Would you like to go on a date?”

Well, Rose _was_ curious, and Gaia was cute, and also apparently had been secretly helping for months. “Yes,” she said.

Flowers bloomed all around them at once as Gaia smiled wider.

No roses, though, and Rose was pretty sure there were ripe raspberries close to the ground. Progress, then, Rose thought happily.

“Well,” she said. “First, I need to water the plants. And then we can talk.”

Divine help or not, it was her garden, and she had to take care of it herself. Luckily, Gaia seemed to understand as much.

They could work on the details later.


End file.
